On test: iPad Pro (2020)
Now with some smart upgrades
From $799 From Apple, apple.com
Features A12Z chip, ProMotion, wide and ultra–wide cameras, Wide Color (P3), True Tone
Apple’s latest generation of iPad Pro comes in the same 11 and 12.9–inch sizes but also brings a combination of minor upgrades and some substantial improvements. You get a marginally improved processor and a second, wider camera; you also get an intriguing new LiDAR scanner and, coming this month, a full–on laptop mode thanks to a scissor–switch, trackpad–powered Magic Keyboard.
Much of the second–gen 2018 iPad Pro remains. The screen is the same 120Hz ProMotion, P3 wide color gamut LCD Liquid Retina panel. The Face ID camera is still 7MP and sits at the top in portrait mode or on the side in landscape. The charger for the Apple Pencil is now along the top landscape edge, and the keyboard slots into the bottom — we just wish that there was a way to still have our preferred camera position in landscape.
The USB–C port is still at the bottom. (Not Thunderbolt 3.) Two USB–C ports on a Pro device, please! Apple has bumped up the chip to an A12Z Bionic (from an
A12X) and added an eight–core graphics processor with an enhanced thermal design.
The rear camera is now a two– camera system. Similar though not quite of the same calibre as the iPhone 11, there’s a 12MP, f/1.8 wide–angle and a 10MP, f/2.4, 125° ultra–wide angle. Both can also shoot 4K video.
While Apple is still reserving the best new camera kit for iPhones, they have put one of the biggest advances ever on the iPad Pro first — LiDAR. That’s Light Detection And Ranging. Basically, a Time of Flight sensor that can measure how long it takes light to project up to 5m away and back. Developers can use it with ARKit 3.5 to get 3D topological meshes, place AR objects into a scene, occlude people so objects look like they’re moving behind them, and even impose virtual but realistic physics into AR experiences.
MORE MAGIC COMING
The new iPad Pro boasts Wi–Fi 6, although there’s no 5G yet. Apple has also brought its “studio quality” mic system to the iPad Pro which, like the 16–inch MacBook Pro, means you can record interviews and podcasts with quality roughly equal to a USB microphone.
Also coming to the iPad Pro, and any iPad capable of running iPadOS 13.4, is a new pointer system. This flows from a circular, fingertip–like indicator to a highlighted interface selector, to a more refined version of the vertical text cursor and highlighter.
You can plug in or pair the iPad Pro with Apple’s Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse, or almost any third–party mouse, and it pretty much just works. With the Magic Trackpad and Mouse, it supports basic gestures, including riffs on three–finger Mac gestures to swipe between apps, return to the Home screen, or go to Mission Control.
Apple’s also got a Magic Keyboard for iPad coming this May with a cantilevered multi–angle hinge, backlit scissor–switch keys, a USB–C port for passthrough charging, and a built–in trackpad. It’ll be prohibitively expensive for some, so we’ll have to see if it’s built to last long enough that it’s really worth it. But for others it’ll be just the two–in–one they’ve been waiting for, and the iPad Pro will finally embrace its double life.
THE BOTTOM LINE. The iPad Pro is getting closer and closer to being a true laptop replacement.